Screen attachment for headlights.



No. 830,768. PATENTED SEPT. 11, 1906. F. BUCHANAN.

- SCREEN ATTACHMENT FOR HEADLIGHTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1, 1905.

\NlTNEESES ATTCJRNEY FRANK BUCHANAN, or SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

seesaw ATTAcHMENr FOR HEADLIGHTS.

3peeiiiization of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1906.

Application filed February 1,1906. semi No. 243,727.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK BUCHANAN, of

' Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the equi State ofNew York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Screen Attachments for Headlights, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in screen attachments for headlights, inwhich a .s lit clamping-ring is adapted to beremova ly attached to the frontglass-supporting frame and is provided with open-ended ways or guides in which is removably inserted a suitable screen'across the front face of the lass for 'subduing the light. These headights are used extensively on the electric cars of suburban railways and are usually ped with electric-arc lamps located in the focus-of a parabolic reflector, so as to afford an intense light while traveling through unlighted suburban or countrydistricts; but when approaching or passing this light in order to obviate its through the lighted streets or more thicklypopulated districts where the traffic and travel of pedestrians is more or less congested it becomes necesary to materiall Y subdue blinding effect upon horses and the traveling public in general.

My object, therefore, is to provide means whereby the headlight now in use may-be readily e nipped with a scrcen'attachment without atering or in any way mutilating the frame of'the headlight.

Another object is to enable the motorr'nan' to readily insert-- or remove the screen with.- out disturbing its support ing-ring, which may remain permanently in the glass-supporting frame when once attached.

Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a headlight, showing my improved the headlight.

screen and its supporting-ring as attached to the front door or glass-supporting frame of Fig. 2 is an enlar ed transverse sectional view through the front door of the headlight-frame and my improved screen and its supporting-ring as operatively supporting-ring for the screen and the screen.

I which is adapted to be supported by said ring. Fig. 5 is an enlarged face View of a portlon of the screen.

per-

A represents "the front door of a headlight as Iprovided with a forwardly-projecting ane nu ar flanged, which is of less .diameter than but concentric with the remaining portions of the door and has its front edge crimped or turned inwardly at a for forming an annular abutment or shoulder against which the edges of the glass plate, as B, rest, said glass plate being provided with a rubber or equivaent buffer 1), which encircles its marginal contact ofthe lass wit 1 its metal supporting-frame, as the flanges a a anda, This glass is held in place by a retainer-ring d and suitable brackets 0, having springs 0' bearing against the retainer-ring d and serving to hold the glass from inward displacement and against the annular shoulder a];

My improved screen-holder consists of a circular split ring 1, which is of substantially the same diameter as the outer diameter of edge and forms a-yieldin cushion to prevent the flange a and is split transversely through one side at 2 the meeting ends being bent outwardly to form op osed cars 3, each of which is provided wit anaperture for receiving a clamping-bolt 4. This split ring is placed upon the periphery of the flange a and is tightened by means of the clainping-bolt 4, whereby it is firmly fastened to said flange a against 'e'ndwise or circumferential movement. This ring is preferably formed of metal, and its outer or front edge is provided with opposite guides or ways 5, which receive the marginal edges of a suitable screen 6 for retaining said screen in position in front of the glass B.

' The upper ends of to the guides or ways 5 are open and are disposed in a horizontal tend downwardly toward each other some distance, following the curve of the ring 1, but terminating short of the split 3, so that when the screen 6 is placed in position from the top downwardly the front walls of the guides or ways 5 overlap upon the adjacent edges of the screen, but retain it otherwise close to the glass B, and the lower end of said screen therefore extends some distance above andbel'ow the uides5. r

In forming the gui cs5 I provide the front edge of the ring 4 with opposite pairs of. L- shaped ears 7 those of each pair being ,located below the horizontal center of the ring, and to each pair of ears is secured'a laterally-projecting narrow plate 5, which threads.

j tra ly at of the is disposed in front of but separated fromthe flange a a distance corresponding to the thickness of the screen-supporting frame which the guides 55' areadapted to receive.

The screen 6 may be of any desired circular construction of sufficient area to cover the exposedportion of the glass Bthat is, it may be made of translucentor ground glass" or of any other suitable material; but in the present instance I have shown a forami' nous plate or disk as provided with a marginal reinforcing-band 10, having a suitable han dle 11, whereby the screen maybe easily insertedin'to thegu'idesbor removedthere from by the motorman.

The screen-disk 6 preferably consists of a thin' sheet of brass or' equivalent material which is finely perforated throughout its area and has an advantage over w'ovenwire screen's by reason ofit-s perfectly smooth faces and -freedom from broken strands or Another advantage of-this pe'rfo rated screen-disk is that it may be manufactured very cheaplyand is more readily mounted in iteisttppoitin frame or ring 10 than a wirescren and is ess susceptible to buckling or distortion.

The guides5 of the screen-supporting ring 1 arearrangedequidistant from the trans verse split 3, and'in'assembling the ring upon the'door-flange a the split 3'is arranged centhe bottom, so that the upper ends gpides 5 are'dispose'd in a horizontal linerunning substantially throu h the cen ter of the ring, and therefore the istance betweenthe upper ends of the guides 5-issubstantially equal to the diameter of the ring 1 while the distance between the lower ends of the guides'is considerably less than suchdiameter, so that when the screen 6 is inserted J 2. ,having annularflange, a glass plate sup? in the guides it is held by the circumferential walls of the guides in a position substantially concentric with the ring 1 and directly in front of the glass plate B with the handle 1 1 uppermost. It is now evident that when the ring 1 is once clamped to the flange a by the bolt 4 the motorman may rcadilyinscrt or remove the screen, which when removed may by' means of the handle" 11, stood that the screen is only tiveposition-in front of'the g -it, being underplaced in opera ass B when the car 18 passing through the more thickly popu- -be hung in some convenient place on the car and having-portions"of'sald sidesformedwith L shaped lugs projecting inwardly from" one edge-of the band; guide-pieces each securedto one set of lugs at one'side of'thebahd'; and dis ose'd in a plane parallel with; butasli-g t distance from-theadjaeenhedge-of said band, and'e'xtending'from-a plane coifi cident-withtlie diameter of the-hand towardthe clarnp'in ears, in c imbination with a screen-disk s idable' between the'guide-'pieeesand adjacent edges'of the band and engaging the lu s on opposite sides-of th'e 'ban'd-L n combination with a-headlight-door' ported within the flange, an expansibleandcompressible split ring separate fI-'oin-,-'b'ut removably fitted upon the periphery-of the flange, means for compressing the handagainst the flange to hold it"in place upon said flange, guide-plates rigidly attached to the ringand disposed inalanesome dis tance in front of the front e ge-ofyth e flange and extending downwardly and-'- inward-1y parallel with opposite sides of the band from a plane coincident with one diameter of the band, and a screen. having a'circular sup )ort mgr-frame inserted between the uide-p ates and adjacent edge of-the'flange o the door.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of December, 1904. FRANK BUCHANAN. Witnesses:

H. E. Cruse, M. M. N o'r'r'. 

